eleanor roosevelt on the other hand, a very strong proponent of civil rights and doing something to end racial discrimination so she continually prodded roosevelt to do something. he decided that he would have one of these new destroyer escorts be manned by an african-american crew. white officers in an african-american crew. they went off in the battle of the atlantic and in fact they were recommended, the team was recommended for the navy and accommodation by their white captains. the navy didn't want these people in the first place and so, they decided they weren't going to give them accommodation. accommodation was not given to the surviving crewmembers, so 50 years later president clinton gave them their award. if you look at the ship and you think about it, the over 200 people in a of 35 feet wide and 200 feet long, it's pretty tight accommodations and if you look in the bunk room, you will see that there really aren't enough bunks for all the people. so you know, it was a tough situation, especially they would be out on the water for months at a time. they were smaller ships, so